VENGEANCE
Chapter 28 – No Clowning Around
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Who would have thought that discussing soccer's techniques and strategies could take almost half a day?
Well, that could happen if you put two avid soccer players in one same room, as twelve-year-old Kari Kamiya learnt that day.
It all began that day early in the morning, when Davis and Veemon popped into the Kamiya's residence. It was about nine in the morning, and Kari still had not woken up yet from sleep...given the intense battle she'd had the day before with Chaos Seadramon, and the fact that she had just come back from vacation. She was tired, sleepy, and sore all over, but despite that she could already picked up an intense conversation exchange between her brother and Davis.
Out of curiosity, she forced herself to get up, while being careful at the same time not to disturb her still asleep Digimon partner, Gatomon.
Glancing into the mirror on her way out, she frowned slightly upon the sight of her reflection.
It was nothing out of ordinary actually...disarraying hairs, droopy eyes and all that, but nobody from her circle of friends had seen her in this condition before, except for Yolei when she was there for a sleep-over. Especially, no boys had seen her in her 'fresh-out-of-bed' mode. Of course, her early adventure in the Digital World was an exception. However as she aged she learnt to groom herself, and had always made sure that she would always appear presentable in front of other company.
And now, one of her best friends was in her house.
There was absolutely no way Kari was going to let him see her in this state.
Kari wondered whether Davis's crush on her was still there or not. The boy had been known for his affections towards her, and even grew jealous of TK, who happened to be one of her closest childhood friend. However, the aftermath of the battle with MaloMyotismon they had at the end of the previous year seemed to have a maturing effect for all the DigiDestined. Ever since that time, either the crush had dissipated or Davis was getting better at hiding it.
Well, Kari thought. If the crush was still there, it would definitely be gone when he saw her in this condition.
Chuckling lightly, she decided not to take that chance and grabbed her towel and a set of fresh clothes before making her way silently to the bathroom. Hopefully Davis would not notice her. She hated to think if he did.
Not a chance, though.
Her escape plan was ruined by a certain blue dragon Digimon, who was sitting on the couch of the living room. It wasn't him alone though... her father was there as well, leaning against the sofa just beside the Digimon while reading the newspaper. Over the kitchen, her mother was preparing breakfast.
Three pairs of eyes instantly diverted to Kari upon the sound of her bedroom door creaking.
"Good morning, Kari!" chirped Veemon exuberantly, while waving his right paw.
"Honey! You're already awake?" Her father, Susumu Kamiya, greeted.
Her mother, Yuuko, smiled upon the sight of her daughter. "I thought you're going to sleep in today? That's what Tai said to me last night. Oh, Davis and Veemon are here too, as you may have noticed, and they'll be joining us for breakfast. Why don't you get yourself cleaned up, wake Gatomon and then we'll have breakfast together?"
Kari sweatdropped, but managed to return the smile her mother gave her, and nodded before making her way to the bathroom.
She could still make it without being noticed by Davis...but then, Tai's bedroom door opened up.
Out came Davis, and he grinned upon looking at Kari. "Good morning!"
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Kari shrieked, and ran with incredible speed to the bathroom. She didn't even reply to the greeting Davis had wished to her.
Sweatdropping, Davis turned to face Veemon. "Was it something I said, or something on my face?" he asked confusedly.
Twenty minutes later, Kari emerged from the bathroom, freshly dressed in her usual pink attire. She saw that almost everyone was already there, and her mother was pouring drinks into the cups while Tai was buttering the toasts. Davis and Veemon both looked eager on eating breakfast, and Kari had to smile on that. Her mother wasn't an expert in cooking, notoriously known for her desire to experiment on new recipes instead of the ones listed in the books and magazines, and the results were usually disastrous. But even she couldn't ruin the simple preparations of breakfast meals, which Kari noted, were scrambled eggs, fried sausages and nuggets, toasts, and fresh orange juices for drinks.
Despite the crowd, Kari noticed that somebody was still missing. It was her...
"Kari, dear, go and wake up Gatomon. I'm sure she doesn't want to miss breakfast. I know how she hates Miko's meal...so she'd better hurry up," said Yuuko Kamiya cheerfully. The Kamiyas all laughed upon a funny memory when Gatomon was curious of the wonders of cat-foods, until she had decided to sneak a taste on their house cat's food. She had vomited instantly; bringing true meaning to the phrase curiosity kills the cat.
"Especially with Davis and Veemon being here as well," added Tai jokingly. Both mentioned boy and Digimon blushed slightly upon the comment, but it didn't look like they had minded at all with it. Both of them did have big appetites, which was a well-known fact to many.
Kari giggled and went off to her room to wake Gatomon. A minute later, a smiling Kari and a grumpy Gatomon joined the table.
"Morning, Gatomon," said Veemon cheerfully.
Gatomon muttered back the greetings, obviously grumpy of having to be disturbed from her catnap. However upon the sight of food her face brightened, and soon she began asking of the reasons why Veemon was there early in the morning.
The rest of the day was spent by the three DigiDestined watching the early anime shows on the television, while the Kamiya parents went out for some groceries. Gatomon left Veemon all alone by resuming with her nap, presenting the rookie Digimon with no other choice but to sit and watch as the three DigiDestined watched the TV. Tai and Davis then left to continue discussing about soccer, and Kari decided to go out for some window shopping. Feeling sorry for the bored Veemon, Kari took out her Playstation and allowed the dragon to play with it.
When she got back about three hours later, to her amusement Veemon was snoring on the couch while Tai and Davis were the ones playing with the Playstation. They claimed that the game they were playing, a soccer game, was one way of application of the strategy they had discussed. Amused, Kari excused herself to her room and logged on to the internet to spend some free time around. She'd gotten e-mails from TK, telling about his vacation in France, with pictures included. Kari couldn't help but wonder about a certain pretty girl with curly blonde hair who seemed to accompany TK in almost every shots. In other group shots it included TK with a group of children whom Kari didn't know at all, but judging from various shots of Digimon which appeared once in a while from the pictures gave Kari the idea that TK had met up with the DigiDestined of France.
People in school often thought that Kari and TK as an item...an idea which amused the both of them greatly, as they were only best friends. Now, TK and this girl, whom TK introduced as Catherine, seemed to be a perfect match. Then she remembered who Catherine was...Tai had told her about the time when he and TK went to France to destroy the Control Spire there, during the world tour event. For a while, Tai was also smitten with the girl but shrugged it off...as Catherine was as old as Kari.
Besides, one day Tai had actually let it slip...that he had gotten over Sora, and decided to move on. That was after the world tour event. She did notice that Tai had been going out over the time after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, but as her brother made no inkling of telling her anything about it she decided not to be nosy and shrugged it off.
An email from Yolei sparked her interest...titled 'Kari...you're so NOT going to believe this!'. Kari was met with a pleasant surprise when the email, while short, told Kari of what she had been waiting for to happen to her female best friend. Yolei and Ken...finally were dating! Their first date was set today, and at the Digital World to boot. Kari could not feel any happier, although she'd seen it coming for quite some time ago.
However, an italic sentence at the end of the email baffled her slightly. It looked like Yolei was keeping something else from Kari.
'Actually there is something more I wanted to tell...and you're so NOT going to believe this, but I'm gonna save THAT for later, okay? It's definitely a shocker...'
A wink smiley icon was placed at the end of the sentence, making Kari wonder what that was all about.
She then saw a P/S at the bottom part of the window and realized that Yolei wanted all the contents of the email to be a secret for the time being. Kari scoffed to herself, muttering 'of course' while wondering how long it would remain a secret. The signs were too obvious.
After checking out all other emails from her classmates, Kari switched off her computer and decided to take a nap as she could not do anything else. The TV was occupied, and her parents were not back yet. She was still tired from the intense battle with Chaos Seadramon, and from returning from her holiday prior to the battle. It didn't take long for Kari to start sleeping; she had dozed off a minute after her head touched the pillow.
A loud beeping noise was what woke her up...and to her surprise, she saw Davis and Tai leaning beside her bed.
"Kari...wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty," said Davis cheekily, and pointed to his Diginizer. "We've got trouble. Digital World trouble."
Kari heard a groan coming from her side, and saw Gatomon jumping out from the bed towards the study table. The feline Digimon picked up the Diginizer of Light and the D-Terminal, which were the source of the beeping noise, and brought them over to Kari.
"Can't a cat have a rest once in a while?" she mumbled, but didn't really sound like she meant it.
"Thanks, Gatomon. Davis...what happened?" Kari inquired.
Davis frowned as he took out his D-Terminal from the pockets of his brown cargo shorts. "There's a message in our D-Terminal from Gennai. We're needed to help GrapLeomon, Jewelbeemon and Piximon to free a village called Tree Top Village."
Kari checked on her D-Terminal as well, scrolling down over the message. "What about the others?" She paled slightly upon seeing what was printed on the LCD screen of the communication device. So much of keeping Yolei and Ken's date a secret.
"Hey, what do you know...according to Gennai, Ken and Yolei were dating today, at the Digital World!" exclaimed Davis disbelievingly.
"Tell that to the world, why don't you?" Kari replied jokingly, and decided to feign ignorance. She continued reading the message. "It's said here that they have already faced an attack from two ultimate Digimon this day, and Yolei and Hawkmon have already achieved Transdigivolution..."
"...becoming a female Silphymon!" Davis continued. "Freaky! They won the battle though...and Gennai hates to disrupt more of their first date..."
"...and it's bad enough that TK had to be called upon yesterday, while on his vacation," Kari continued.
"And while at first Gennai doesn't want to disturb Cody from his kendo practices, he'd decided to try and send this message to Cody as well. Armadillomon was the one who had answered it, and told Gennai that while he's sure Cody would want to help, the kendo tournament is important to him," said Davis, and became thoughtful for a moment. He looked at Kari, and then towards the two Digimon, and back at Kari again until finally...
"Well...only if it gets really tough then we really need to summon Cody, Ken, Yolei and TK," he decided.
Veemon jumped exuberantly. "So it's up to US now!"
Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm jumping of joy..."
Kari and Davis looked at each other, and both faces harbored a worried-looking frown. "Only...the two of us? And it's said that Chaos Piedmon might be there too. Chaos Seadramon was hard enough, it took ALL of us and a few extra help from the other Digimon, and still it wasn't enough to beat him." Davis mumbled, while Kari nodded worryingly.
"Ahem..."
The two younger DigiDestined saw that the sound of somebody clearing his throat had belonged to Tai. He stood there towering nearly a head high, with arms crossed over the blue soccer jersey he was wearing over a faded blue denim jeans. He was watching the two younger DigiDestined with a mild amused look on his face, reflected by the twinkling gleam from his brown eyes.
"Aren't you forgetting somebody?" he inquired.
"Uh...you?" Davis replied instantly. Tai nodded. "Oh...yeah! Agumon can still Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon! Oh man, we're gonna need you two!"
Tai looked extremely pleased with himself. "Last time I heard, Agumon is still at File Island after the whole Devimon fiasco."
"Let's get going now," said Davis spiritedly. "We can open a Digiport over to File Island to pick up Agumon."
Tai left the room quickly to get his Digivice while Kari and Davis made preparations to go to the Digital World. Kari scribbled a hasty message to her parents, saying that she and Tai were going out with Davis. It was just after dusk, and with Tai and the Digimon around it was safe enough for her parents not to worry. Tai then made sure to lock all the doors and windows of their apartment unit.
Davis raised his Diginizer and cried out, "Digiport Open! To File Island!"
As their adversaries were all champion level, it should not take GrapLeomon, Jewelbeemon and Piximon long to defeat their bigheaded opponents - Nanimon and BomberNanimon. The term was fitting, as both species of Nanimon had an overlarge head if compared with their limbs, which strangely enough, grew out from their heads as they had no body. Nanimon appeared to be organic, while BomberNanimon looked metallic, but both wore shades, gloves and boots. Overall, they resembled bombs with humanoid upper and lower limbs.
Both species were known to be invader Digimon, and were virus types. Hardly any Nanimon was known to be good, and the ones the three Ultimates were facing right now were no exceptions. Malicious gleams evident from their shades, which somehow transmitted the red gleams of their hidden eyes. However they were still at a disadvantage...Nanimon species were also known for their barks being worse than their bites. They were strong Digimon, but nothing more remarkable. It was why they were given a power upgrade, fitting them into serving Chaos Specter as his army.
Their less-significant allies were a group of Vilemon, viral critters of virus types as well. All the time they had stayed behind, leaving only the Nanimon and BomberNanimon to fight the three Ultimates.
In terms of power, the good Digimon were still far ahead. But, by teaming up together the Nanimon clan stood a better chance. There were twenty of them in total to fight off only three Digimon. Lacking qualities of the ultimate Digimon, they made up easily with their large quantities.
"They are not relenting!" Jewelbeemon said exasperatedly, as she swatted a Nanimon and BomberNanimon with her staff. "Ugh...get away from me you gross thing! Shot Claw!" She fired off several streams of laser through her claws to stun them.
"I find this kind of fun! It's not every time I get to practice my skills!" said Piximon cheerfully, as he evaded two Nanimon who were charging at him. As the result the Nanimon collided with each other, and slumped on the ground. The Digimon trainer then smacked his staff on the two fallen Nanimon, and bonked them into unconsciousness.
GrapLeomon was the more impatient one; he had enough of the three BomberNanimon who were trying to attack him altogether, and quickly spun around with rapid easiness. A whirlwind formed as a result of this manner, with bolts of lightning circling around it. It was a wonder how GrapLeomon kept himself from being dizzy, as he jumped over the air and kicked the BomberNanimon away with the sheer force of his foot combined with electricity power. The three BomberNanimon were electrocuted, and were put out of commission.
Seeing that they were not faring better against the Ultimates, the remaining Nanimon and BomberNanimon regrouped and devised a plan.
All of them held their hands on their backs, and something foul-smelling seemed to emanate from them in an instant.
The Ultimates were confused, as the odor became more and more unbearable and intolerable.
"Urgh! Smells like crap to me!" shouted GrapLeomon, while covering his nose with one paw. "And I mean it literally!"
"This is really sickening," Jewelbeemon muttered, and followed GrapLeomon's suit. "Oh...what a disgusting smell!"
"Gross and just plain nasty, if you ask me," Piximon said silently, as his comments were just about the same.
Suddenly, the Nanimon and BomberNanimon threw what they were holding towards the three Ultimates. To their utmost glee, the Ultimates' confusion soon turned into cries of disgusts as rains of defecation remains showered all over them. Using this chance while the Ultimates were flustered all of them generated more filth on their hands and advanced on an attack.
"Poop Attack!"
"Free-throw Bomb!"
This time around, their poop attacks had another effect. As the Ultimates tried to swat away the poop from hitting them, the poops exploded upon contact. It was a shock to the three Digimon, and it was the opening their enemies were waiting for.
"Attack!" cried the BomberNanimon. "Explosive Old Man Punch!"
"Old Man Punch!" the Nanimon chorused, and all of them delivered heavy blows onto their three adversaries.
When it looked like the Ultimates were about to counter their attacks, some of them retreated backwards and fired off more poops to further flabbergast their enemies. It was a useful technique; despite the bizarreness of it took form.
The small Piximon was the first to stumble on the ground, being the first who was overwhelmed with the filths thrown to him. Being tiny had its disadvantage sometimes, as now, a fewer throws of poops were enough to change his pink fur into a sickening shade of brown.
Jewelbeemon was out of luck as well, as the filths overcame her. Her emerald armor paled upon being mixed with the poop, casting the armor with a dull brown-green hue. This distracted her, and proved to be her downfall as the punches laid by Nanimon and BomberNanimon soon were delivered all over. She stumbled onto the ground as well, close to where Piximon was.
"The puffball and that woman insect are no threat anymore! Focus our attacks on that lion now!" commanded one BomberNanimon.
This command was met with loud cheers from the Nanimon and BomberNanimon. They regrouped and began advancing on GrapLeomon.
GrapLeomon was angered with this course of action. His armor and hair were stained with poop, and he smelled like filth. Charging up his power, his body glowed yellow as he snarled maliciously with dual voices, "I will not be beaten by a bunch of weak, filthy, mere Champions! CYCLONE TURBINE!!"
The Cyclone Turbine worked exactly the same way as the Lion Whirlwind Kick, but the delivered effect was much more disastrous. Instead of a whirlwind which only encircling him, this time around the cyclone generated from GrapLeomon's spinning body spread out to all the nearby vicinity. Jewelbeemon and Piximon immediately rose slightly upwards, carefully avoiding the strong forces of GrapLeomon's winds. The powerful cyclone had blown off nearly all the remaining Nanimon and BomberNanimon, sending all of them sailing in haphazard directions. All of them eventually crashed over the trees and were knocked out into unconsciousness.
"Excellent, GrapLeomon!" complimented Piximon, while trying to swat some dried poop out from his wings. Jewelbeemon was also awed with GrapLeomon's power, but she merely nodded in appraisement.
The battle instantly reached a standstill, with the twenty invaders Digimon were out of commission in one blow. The Vilemon all were hesitating to attack, until their leader, all this while remained hidden, decided to make himself known to the Ultimates.
The lead Digimon was a strange looking one. A humanoid Digimon, he wore brown gloves and boots, and green robes under a flaming red cape, with a similar colored material donning around his neck. An intimidating looking mask with brown, gold and red being its main constitutions of color covered his face, and white hair flowed out from the mask in random directions.
This Digimon was Baronmon, the one leading the Chaos Forces in their mission here on Tree Top Village.
And he was absolutely miffed with the defeat of his army. Especially because they were winning in the first place, and would have emerge victorious if it wasn't for GrapLeomon to launch his powerful cyclone attack towards the Nanimon and BomberNanimon. The Vilemon, while still fresh, were obviously no match to the ultimate Digimon power.
He alone, would have to deal with GrapLeomon himself. Despite being an armor Digimon, Baronmon had lived long enough to gain enough battle experiences. He had been in fight with numerous champion Digimon before entering Chaos Specter's army, and was confident that his power had surpassed the normal limits of champion and armor Digimon. This would be his first time facing an Ultimate, but Baronmon was ready to test his skills.
"Meteor Dance!"
Baronmon launched himself into frenzied dance movements, spinning around while raising his hands up and down. GrapLeomon scoffed loudly upon seeing this act, deeming it quickly as silly...surely the armor Digimon couldn't hope to beat him with dancing?
Oh, how he was wrong on this.
GrapLeomon, along with Jewelbeemon and Piximon who were close by, suddenly found themselves showered by burning meteorites which suddenly dropped down above. It was sudden and purely unexpected, causing the three Ultimates to fluster and unable to attack anymore, with them being burnt by the fiery meteorites all over their body.
Piximon recognized the attack, and quickly informed his comrades on this. "It's Baronmon's Meteor Dance! It works the same way as a Birdramon's Meteor Wing, but with more devastating results. We have to avoid being hit...OWWWW!!"
The pink puffball jumped when one meteorite brushed against his tiny body, burning his feathers. He was knocked out unconscious.
Jewelbeemon and GrapLeomon found themselves standing back-to-back, sending off their attacks to ward off the meteorites. Explosions boomed all over the battlefield, and pieces of destroyed meteorites shot off in random directions. Some shot through the trees, burning holes through them. Some of the leaves caught on with the fire emanated from the meteorites, and were burnt instantly.
"This is bad..." Jewelbeemon gasped, and her eyes trailing the fires, which danced from a cluster of leaves to another.
The fire indeed was spreading at an alarming rate. Smokes began to prevail in the closed battlefield, as they could not find a way to escape from the thick canopies of leaves, and the community living above.
"At this rate, the whole forests housing the Tree Top Village would burn by midnight!" GrapLeomon noted frantically. "We have to stop Baronmon."
Baronmon was still relentless, summoning more meteorites to further harm the remaining two Ultimates. He didn't really care of the side effects his attack had caused, despite the fact that while attempting to destroy the two Ultimates he had vehemently assaulted his weaker comrades as well. Some of the Nanimon and BomberNanimon were blasted point-blank with the meteorites, and were deleted instantly. The other Nanimon clan saw what was happening and quickly retreated to the place where the Vilemon were hiding.
GrapLeomon and Jewelbeemon both were shocked of the cruelty displayed by Baronmon, who put aside everything else to ensure his victory, even his own fellow comrades. The two of them were getting drained of their powers after the prolonged fighting, their powers wasted just to counter the falling meteorites and the fight with the Nanimon clan earlier.
Deep in their hearts, both Digimon desperately hoped for any help to come. They couldn't stand much longer in this condition. With Piximon knocked out there was no way they could reach Gennai to ask for help. Piximon had fallen...it was only a matter of time before they did as well.
Young Cody Hida fixed his aim on the target dummy in front of him with an intense glare of his serious green eyes. He was standing face to face with the dummy, which his mother and grandfather had made for him. Made out of faded brown clothes stuffed with cotton wools, the dummy actually consisted of several stuffed cloths, mended together at the places which would be the joints. One big stuffed cloth, rather pillow-like, made up the main torso with other smaller ones forming the head, upper and lower limbs.
The dummy stood just a few inches taller than Cody's height, being suspended by a wooden pole. The blank face was humorously drawn with a mocking face, rather comically, with round big eyes and small pupils, and a mouth with the tongue sticking out. It was a product of Armadillomon's so called creativity. Although, Cody admitted silently, his Digimon partner did have talent.
While merely a simple drawing, Cody's mind worked on it in another angle. He imagined the face being his opponent's face...and was fueled with the drive to begin his practice.
"TSUKI!" he roared, and thrust his light green bamboo stick, his shinai, towards the puppet's throat, stopping just as the shinai was about to graze the barely visible throat of the puppet. It was a rule in kendo practice that only a thrust should be made towards an opponent's throat. Cody drew back his shinai, and took a deep breath before motioning for another attack.
"MEN!" This time around, it was a strike made towards the puppet's head. Cody made sure to stop as well, before the shinai actually hit the face, and wielded the shinai up with grace and bopped the puppet's head softly. But then, just to humor himself, he drew back the shinai and used it to prod the rounded nose of the poppet, which was made glaringly obvious due to its bright crimson color, also courtesy of his Digimon partner. This action earned a soft laugh coming from the dimly lit dojo, right at the corner.
"Way to go, Cody!"
It was Armadillomon, who loyally accompanied him with his daily practice inside his grandfather's dojo. The dojo was already closed for the day, and Cody had his grandfather's permission to use it at his disposal. The dojo was located at the ground floor of the apartment complex where Cody, Yolei and TK were staying, just behind the Inoue's Ai Mart.
"Thanks, Armadillomon!" Cody said with a wave.
TK had commented once, when he visited the dojo, that the puppet's face looked just like one Dark Master he had met when he was about Cody's age. Strangely, the Digimon who claimed himself as one of the Dark Master was called Puppetmon. Puppetmon had actually imprisoned TK inside his house of toys, but TK used his wits to escape. From what he'd heard, Puppetmon ended up being deleted by Matt's MetalGarurumon.
Chuckling, Cody noted mentally that this puppet wasn't going anywhere, before fixing his eyes on the puppet's hanging upper limbs.
"KOTE!" he cried, and thrust his shinai towards the puppet's wrists. The cushiony limbs of the poppet merely bounced back in return.
"DO!" Cody bellowed again, this time around hitting the torso of the dummy.
The young kendoka then repeated all four steps of movements around the puppet, thrusting his shinai while exclaiming the appropriate cries with every move he made. This went on for another half an hour, and by the time he was finished, Cody was flushed with sweat while the puppet still remained hanging on the wooden pole with its forever present mocking face.
Cody then heard somebody clapping, and froze. It surely was not Armadillomon...the clapping sounded very much like it was made by human hands.
Turning around, he was greeted by a familiar bespectacled girl, who was grinning at him impishly. It was Yolei.
The boy relaxed instantly, as it wasn't strange for Yolei to drop by the dojo once in a while, even in unexpected times. The girl was family to him, an older sister he had never had. When both of them were younger, during the times when Cody had just started with kendo, Yolei was always with him to offer support. At least, until she got tired of watching Cody practice and decided not to come to the dojo anymore, but even then she kept herself up to date with Cody's achievement, and was among the first to support him to enter the kendo tournament when she got hold of the news. The very first ones were of course, his mother and grandfather, and Armadillomon.
"I didn't hear you come in," Cody noted as he strode towards the bench where Armadillomon was sitting.
Yolei, with Hawkmon at her side, joined the younger boy at the bench, still smiling.
"Well, with all those shouts and smacking the poor doll there, how can you?" she said jokingly, gesturing towards the hanging puppet.
Cody, albeit his serious expression, couldn't help himself from feeling amused. "It's the cries that come with the set of movements in kendo..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know that...you've explained it to me before," Yolei said cheerfully. "So, how's the training coming along?"
"Well, because it is only the tournament between children under twelve from all over Tokyo, grandpa says that I've learned enough already to qualify, and just need to practice the movements often," Cody replied. "There are only four days left...so I reckon I'd better training hard. I hope I can win this."
"Cody...you've been with this kendo stuff since you were what, six? You're the most skillful kendo practitioner that I know," Yolei said encouragingly.
"I think I'm probably the only kendoka you've ever seen," Cody pointed out.
Yolei blushed slightly, but remained with her cheerful demeanour. "Well that is so true, but you get my point."
"You seem happy," said Cody, noticing Yolei's cheerfulness from the start. "What's up?"
"Well...two things. Which do you want to hear first, the good news, or the BEST news?"
Cody rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I'll take the best news first."
"Ok..." Yolei sighed dreamily before suddenly shifting into her hyper mood. "My FIRST DATE with KEN is a huge SUCCESS!!"
The young boy sweatdropped. "Oh...well, congratulations then. Good for you."
"Ken and Yolei sitting under the tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the..." Armadillomon sang joyfully, but was immediately interrupted by Cody when Yolei began blushing furiously.
"Armadillomon!" he admonished.
"I can't help myself!" Armadillomon defended himself. "Well...it's true right? They like each other, and that's the song I heard from TV..."
"Just wait until you two hear the GOOD news...which is, in fact, BAD news for me," Hawkmon muttered grumpily.
"What's with him?" Armadillomon asked.
The blushes on Yolei's cheeks vanished instantly, replaced by a proud look. "The GOOD news is that...I and Hawkmon...can TRANSDIGIVOLVE... into Sylphimon! Finally! Note that it's Sail-phi-mon, not Seal-phi-mon, okay? Hawkmon's just mad that he gets to become a girl Digimon." Yolei proceeded by giving the full accounts of her date with Ken back at Digitamamon's Diner, while Cody listened to her intently.
"...And now, I've just got back from the playground. The date was wonderful, just like what I have in my dreams! My first time...and a memorable one too! Oh...I can't wait to tell my sisters and Kari about all these. Of course I won't tell Chizuru and Momoe about the Transdigivolution stuff, but they will need to hear about the date. Well, see you around, Cody, but I need to get back before my folks wonder of where I am right now. See you, kiddo!"
Cody waved Yolei goodbye as he pondered on the fact that the older girl had just said it all with only one breath. After Yolei and Hawkmon made their exit, Cody turned to face his partner. The armadillo caught the look at his eyes, and instantly knew of what his partner was thinking.
"So, I guess it's only us now," said Armadillomon, voicing out Cody's silent thoughts.
"Yeah," Cody admitted.
"Aw...don't feel so bad about it Cody," Armadillomon assured. "I'm sure we'll get to become an ultimate Digimon together soon. You know, I'm hoping to become a human-like Digimon too when we Transdigivolve. The others...Angewomon, MagnaAngemon, Paildramon, Dinobeemon and Sylphimon...all of them are very much like you guys. I sure want to become one too. It'll be so cool when it does. Not that I don't like Shakkoumon, but..."
Cody nodded understandingly. "I think I know what you mean, Armadillomon. But even if we couldn't achieve a human form for you, you'll still be my best friend, and nothing could change that. And personally, I don't mind Shakkoumon. He has great defense, which is just as important as offense. He could even block Black Wargreymon's attack when neither Paildramon nor Silphymon could...he's great in his own ways."
Armadillomon brightened up instantly. "Aw, Cody, you're the greatest!"
Cody smiled, having a recollection of what Armadillomon had in mind during the times when he was about to receive the Digi-Egg of Reliability. His partner had wanted a human like mode, and from the way Armadillomon had described it, it sounded like one of the bishounen characters Cody saw in most anime. Armadillomon had made it specific that he really admired how Patamon turned up when he advanced into his champion and ultimate level.
"Just so you know Cody..." Armadillomon began, drawing his attention partner instantly. "Gennai contacted your D-Terminal while you were practicing just now, says something about needing our help for this village."
"Hm?" Cody asked back, surprised at the slightest. "Gennai did? What did you tell him?"
"Well...I told him that you need to practice because the tournament is important to you."
Cody smiled; his partner really knew and understood him well. But his smile then turned into a frown, wondering about the message. However when he tried to check the message out, he found out that there was no message stored in his D-Terminal.
"I think I've accidentally hit the delete button too, sorry Cody," said Armadillomon apologetically.
The boy shrugged it off. "Well, my guess is that we better go upstairs and let me clean up and have dinner first. Then we'll check out the problem."
A blue column of light suddenly materialized right in the middle of the battlefield underneath Tree Top Village. The light was blinding, it caused Baronmon to withdraw his attack momentarily. Both GrapLeomon and Jewelbeemon slumped onto the ground, weakened and battered at the same time. They had spent nearly all of their energy to block the meteorites from Baronmon relentless assaults.
Jewelbeemon was knocked out into unconsciousness as well as she felt too weak to continue fighting. Her limp body slumped over GrapLeomon's legs.
"The DigiDestined..." GrapLeomon said weakly, before he passed out as well, his head slumped onto Jewelbeemon's motionless body.
Six figures stepped out from the column of light, revealing three humans and three Digimon – two Rookies and one Champion. They were shocked to see the current situation of the battlefield; mini craters were seen all over the grounds with some of them still bore traces of fire. A lot of Nanimon and BomberNanimon were seen scattered around the ground, all had lost consciousness. They were all injured, and some of them were already deleted prior to the DigiDestined's arrival.
"Oh man! This is really serious!" Davis commented, and his eyes fell onto Baronmon. "And I bet he's responsible for all these!"
Kari gasped suddenly, and darted towards where GrapLeomon, Jewelbeemon and Piximon were lying. Her nose twitched slightly upon smelling a horrid odor coming out from the three ultimate level Digimon, but she ignored it when she saw that the three of them were injured badly.
"Oh my...they're lucky to still be alive. Their wounds are serious!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"This is bad," said Kari passionately, and grabbed the nearest Digimon's hand. "GrapLeomon...can you hear me?"
No response came. Kari quickly opened a Digiport and held her Diginizer of Light towards the three Digimon. A column of pink light appeared instantly above the fallen Digimon, and transported them away in an instant. Their conditions were too severe, and Kari could only think of sending them back to Asuka Laboratory where they would get the necessary healing treatments.
Tai, with Agumon at his side, tensed upon setting sight on Baronmon. "I bet that ugly dolt over there is responsible for all these mess!"
Davis and Veemon joined at their predecessors' side. "Man, if he can do this kind of damage to three strong Ultimates, then we really need to go all out to beat this guy!" said Davis passionately.
"I'm with you guys," said Kari. "Let's do it. Diginizer, ENERGIZE!"
:: Transdigivolution ::
"Gatomon, Digivolve to... Angewomon!"
"Veemon, Digivolve to... Paildramon!"
Tai awed upon watching Kari and Davis merged with their Digimon partners to form Angewomon and Paildramon in columns of pink and blue radiances, only to be poked on his leg by his own partner. Looking down, he saw his dinosaur partner looking at him expectantly.
"I'm ready too, Tai," said Agumon, clearly happy to be with his partner again. "Just say the magic word!"
"Alright! Agumon, let's do it!" cried Tai, holding out his Digivice. "Warp Digivolve now!"
"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to... Wargreymon!"
Baronmon panicked as he saw the newcomers. "Vilemon...don't just hide, attack them!"
The Vilemon, ten of them, muttered their protests but were cut short with Baronmon's snarl. Quickly they leapt out from behind the trees where they were hiding and charged towards the three destined Digimon.
"Please...you must be kidding us!" Paildramon said, and held out his machineguns. "Let's get rid of these cretins! Desperado Blaster!"
"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon joined in, firing out powerful pink lights towards the Vilemon.
The holy attack of Angewomon coupled with Paildramon's intense assault did just the trick, as all ten Vilemon were wiped out in just a mere blink of the eye. Angewomon wrinkled her nose, and rose up slightly from the ground where she stood.
"Let's fresh things up a bit," she said, and emitted purifying pink aura which nullified the foul smells that radiated all over the area.
"That's better!" Gatomon commented.
Baronmon took a few steps back as Wargreymon advanced on him. He was a match to ultimate level Digimon, but was way out of a mega Digimon's league. He wouldn't be able to win the fight, unless...
"Meteor Dance!" he yelled out, planning to beat up his three new challengers with showers of meteorites.
The meteor shower came, and the one who was most threatened was Tai, as he didn't merge with his Digimon as Kari and Davis did. He was most vulnerable, and unlike their fallen friends, his life could be at stake!
And Baronmon saw his chance, and focused his attack on the teenager. He was the source of this Wargreymon's power; with him gone Baronmon wouldn't have to face the powerful mega, and the other two ultimate Digimon would suffer the same fate as the other three.
"No! TAI!" shouted Angewomon, as she rushed to Tai's defense. Floating in front of Tai, she cloaked her body with her heavenly wings and generated a pink shield to block out the meteors.
However, somebody else was also concerned with both Tai and Angewomon's safety. The larger Paildramon decided that his body alone could shield both Angewomon and Tai simultaneously. He knelt down, leaving his back exposed to the dangers of the meteors. He held both Tai and Angewomon close to his body and let the meteorites grazed his posterior side. He cried in pain as his draconic white wings were scorched with fire, and there were more coming.
"Davis, what are you doing?" Angewomon demanded.
"Just ensuring your safety and Tai's," Paildramon said, his voice sounded constrained as he received more blows from the meteorites.
Then, Paildramon's body began to shimmer with bright blue lights...and he devolved back into a semi-conscious Davis and Veemon. Both of them were heavily injured.
"Davis..." Angewomon said, her voice shaken. She then leapt forward and shielded Tai, Davis and Veemon with her pink lights. "Heaven's Charm!"
The pink lights successfully wiped out the incoming meteorites, but Baronmon was still persistent as he continued with his dance. When the meteorites returned, Angewomon was unprepared and was only able to erect a pink ward in front of her when the meteorites slammed onto her. The pink lights around her body left her and deleted the meteorites, and when the lights dissipated an unconscious Kari and Gatomon were found lying on the ground.
"NO! Kari!" Tai cried, quickly rushing to his sister's side. "Kari...are you alright? Say something..."
While Kari looked quite alright, Tai noticed that there were scorch marks all over her clothes. Burnt marks were evident on her legs and arms, while Gatomon's white fur were blackened in some parts. Both of them didn't response to Tai's pleas.
Wargreymon, all this time trying his best to counter Baronmon's attacks with his fireballs, only noticed that his friends were in danger when Paildramon first de-digivolved. And within seconds, Angewomon had fallen as well. It all happened too fast, and Wargreymon saw that Tai and the others were now unprotected and prone to fatal injuries just as soon as Baronmon's meteorites overwhelmed them.
"I teach you for messing with my friends!" Wargreymon growled, and formed a massive fireball while rushing towards Tai. "TERRA FORCE!!"
He threw the fireball towards the incoming meteorites, which were all deleted upon collision with the powerful Terra Force. Wargreymon's attack, shining as bright as a star and hot as a sun, zoomed towards Baronmon. The evil Digimon tried to summon more meteorites to counter-attack the fireball, but all his efforts were in vain. His howls of pain could be heard echoing all over the dark, deep forests as he exploded into data particles.
Wargreymon took a deep breath, but remained in mega level just in case somebody else decided to drop by to fight them.
"Are they alright? Tai...I'm sorry. I really didn't notice..." Wargreymon said regretfully.
"Kari...she's not responding to my voice," Tai choked out nervously. "Davis and Veemon are still...barely conscious...but...we need help."
"Tai...is Kari...alright?" Davis asked, sounding really weak. He attempted to raise his head, but the burning pain then shot up to all parts of his body, causing him to scream in pain.
"Davis, don't move a lot, you're hurt..." Tai instructed softly, placing Kari down from his lap and crawled towards Davis. "I'm gonna get some help. How do you work the Diginizers? Which button should I use to call on help?"
"Call on...TK...MagnaAngemon...heal Kari..." replied Davis weakly. "Press...third button..."
"Why, what in the Digital World you need to do that for?" came a melodramatically evil voice from above. "Stay, don't leave until the show is over, and I will personally make sure that all of you will have the time of your lives..." The sentence was followed with a fearsome chuckle.
Looking above, both Tai and Wargreymon saw the owner of the voice, and paled considerably.
They recognized that Digimon anywhere. The bizarre clothing, the sashes, the way the Digimon's swords were sheathed on his back, and more importantly, the black and white facemask the Digimon was wearing.
They have faced the same Digimon once, and had no doubt that this was the same species of Digimon. The different colorings were not an issue here.
They recognized a Piedmon anywhere, because he was once their most powerful archenemy. The leader of the Dark Masters, and the one who had nearly beaten Wargreymon for good if it wasn't for Matt and MetalGarurumon's timely arrival.
"Run...it's Chaos...Piedmon!" Davis gasped.
"Why, appreciation towards me will not get you nowhere, pathetic human," said Chaos Piedmon with a sneer as he descended down from above. "My, my, MY...what an awful job all of you have done here. My Chaos Forces...deleted, except for those dirty Nanimon and BomberNanimon, whom I will not mind if you take some time to delete them as well. Tsk, tsk... Baronmon's deletion is not in vain apparently, seeing as that pretty angel and that dashing dragon warrior have fallen, just like those who have retreated earlier..."
"Cut the ramblings, Piedmon. What do you want?" Wargreymon growled.
"Piedmon?" said Chaos Piedmon, with mock-horrified tone. "Why does everyone love to compare me with my goof of a cousin? First that giant joke Azulongmon, and now you? Oh well, I guess if you meant that Dark Master Piedmon, then all is forgiven. He was a strong Digimon, although nowhere in my league. Like seriously, only one dimension? I've been to many, like five, perhaps...and I don't get all almighty king and decide to rule the Digital World. Oh, now what to do with you...hmm, decisions, decisions..."
Tai silently pulled Davis and Veemon closer to Kari and Gatomon while Chaos Piedmon continued his ramblings.
"Ah! I get it! I'll make you..." Chaos Piedmon took out a white handkerchief and smiled sinisterly. "Do you know what this is, DigiDestined?"
"You're not going to turn all of us into key chains, Piedmon!" shouted Tai defiantly.
The smile instantly vanished from the clown's face. "Hmm? Damn that Piedmon...he has spoiled my entire act! But no matter..."
"You're not gonna get us, Piedmon..." Tai said, and pressed the third red button on the Diginizers of Courage and Light.
Instantly columns of blue and pink lights materialized around Davis, Kari and their partner Digimon. The four of them instantly vanished in four streaks of blue and pink lights, transported all the way back to Asuka Laboratory...leaving Tai and Wargreymon with Chaos Piedmon.
"Huh...what happened? Why am I still here?" Tai wondered in confusion. "I thought that it's going to transport ALL of us!"
"This isn't looking good..." Wargreymon said, looking flustered a bit.
"Trying to leave, eh? Well, I don't think so... " Chaos Piedmon said sweetly, obviously a deception. "Looks like your so-called friends have left you here. Peh, some friends they are. But let's not complain about it shall we? Now that you're STILL HERE, maybe I can still humor myself. But on second thought, I don't think so. I'll just change you into key chains and be done with the two of you. Better be safe than sorry. That will have to suffice for now, and later when your little friends come along to rescue you...that is, IF they decide to come, then I'll entertain them as well with the same kind of pleasure."
Chaos Piedmon then darted towards Tai and Wargreymon and threw his white handkerchief towards them. The hanky grew larger as it got nearer to the pair, and bolts of lightning erupted from the enlarged piece of cloth when it engulfed Tai and Wargreymon. Shouts from the duo were heard all over the forest, and when the cries subsided there were two shining key chains carved in shapes of the pair. Chaos Piedmon immediately pocketed his handkerchief and the two key chains and surveyed his surrounding.
"One...two...three..." he counted the remaining Nanimon and BomberNanimon. "Three Nanimon and two BomberNanimon left. Hmm...I wonder..."
Chaos Piedmon made a mental calculation within his mind before smirking in delight. He then called upon his power and transferred them to the unconscious champion Digimon. All five Nanimon clan members began to merge as one, forming a gigantic two-headed quadrupled centaur-like Digimon, with its humanly torso garbed in yellow shogun armor and red cape. The crimson head protruding from its bestial body resembled that of a skeletal dragon. The new Digimon's skin was black as obsidian, and the eyes were crimson. The Digimon was wielding sharp swords in his hand.
"When the other DigiDestined arrive, there will be somebody for them to play with," said Chaos Piedmon gleefully. "Enjoy your fun, Zanbamon!"
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Author's Note:
What a chapter. I may have to increase the rating to PG-13 after this one...what do you say? Should I, or should I not? Anyway thanks for taking the time to review, I really appreciate it.
Dark Qiviut – Thanks for the review, and for going to follow this fic up till the end. As for your questions...let's see whether I can answer them without giving too much detail away, alright?
1) There will be no Frontier kids and the V-Tamers in this story or its planned sequel. As for the International DigiDestined and the Digimon Tamers...well, time will tell. Some of the International DigiDestined will take more active roles in the sequel, and there's plan to make the sequel a 02/Tamers cross-over. In this story...you'll see hints being dropped in previous and upcoming chapters, but I'll say no more lest it would spoil the story.
2) I really don't have any major preferences in couplings. But I will stick to the canon, so Sorato and Kenyako are definitely in. As for the others, I like both Takari and Daikari, I have the ideas for TK-Catherine and Mimi-Michael couplings, and Tai/? There's a mention that Tai has started dating again in this chapter, but with whom, you'll have to wait and see. One hint: It's NOT a fan-made character.
3) The Harmonious Ones will appear from time to time in the plane in which they are imprisoned, but towards the end they'll show up physically. I'm still editing the finale of this story so everything else will be vague for a while. But there is a reason why Zhuqiaomon seems to hate humans so much, and it is not the same as in Digimon Tamers.
4) Umm...mind telling me what is the problem Ch.23 has? I will try to fix the errors, as some of the earlier chapters bound to have, but it'll be helpful if you're more specific. Thanks.
5) Challenge? Wow... 50,000 words, that is suitable for a stand-alone story, not a chapter because of its length. I think I'll pass.
Jack the ripper – Milleniumon will return; Kimeramon and MetalGreymon will play a huge part in this. Cody and Armadillomon will Transdigivolve very soon, very likely in two or three chapters to come. I'm still figuring this out.
Digi fan – Yeah, it's been a while. Schools and stuff... thanks for still being here.
Quinton Notwen – Do they? Wow...you've missed a lot! Hmm...did I really write Chaos Specter like that? He's supposed to love Catrina. Not that kind of love, mind you, but the usual care displayed by parents to child. And sorry about the pluralizations (is that even a word? Microsoft Word's dictionary seems not to agree with it).
J.D. Guy – Everyone's issues will be touched upon from time to time, and the Dark Ocean has a lot of involvement in Kari and Ken's part. And Yolei, to a certain degree, because she was there too but not affected by its darkness. Yeah, I really wanted to see Frontier but downloading the episodes from the mIRC digilegacy channel will involve a lot of money and time; I rather buy the VCDs this coming summer.
